Andrew Phillips with the snapper he caught offshore from Point Richards on Sunday (Picture: Mark Sesar).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Fishing out in around 8 metres of water off Point Richards from 3 pm on Sunday, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar had their first hook-up within half an hour, taking a 6 kg snapper.
They finished with a half a dozen or so, but that first fish remained their biggest by quite a margin.
Early last week, Andrew Johnson, Pete Dawson and Dennis O’Brien were after whiting, which were hard to find. In fact, they’d covered a fair bit of ground before they hit a purple patch off Curlewis that yielded bag limit catches all round.
After the wind and rain event toward the end of last week, Andrew headed out to a previously productive snapper spot, but there was nothing doing there, neither was there any result on the whiting off Curlewis where they were successful earlier in the week.
About to call it a day, a call on the radio for assistance had him on a heading toward a previous fishing companion who was having difficulty starting his motor, the upshot being that Andrew would anchor up nearby and tow him in if required.
Naturally, Andrew put his lines out, and behold, found a good patch of whiting. Luckily, his associate managed to start his motor while Andrew went on to take a bag limit catch of whiting.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that the week’s fishing has been excellent despite catastrophic weather over a couple of days, with whiting – some exceeding 40 cm – well and truly on offer.
Squid too have been present in good numbers, said Rod, with some anglers taking bag limit catches.
Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters with the 3 kg brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Friday evening.
Stephen Eales with son Mason, and daughters Amelia and Lily with Stephen’s 55 cm yellowbelly from Lake Victoria
Freshwater
Arriving at Lake Purrumbete around lunchtime on Friday, Victorian Inland Charters skipper Michael Evans, was confronted with gale force winds and heavy rain, his charter for that day being reassigned.
But he hung in there with his faithful Jack Russell terrier, Rexy. And, not in vain as it turned out, for on dusk, the wind abated, along with the rain, and they were soon out cruising the weed margins, Michael casting his favourite lure, a D&A Bent Minnow.
Size isn’t everything: Mason Eales with his redfin from Lake Victoria.
This was an exercise that lasted barely half an hour before he caught what turned out to be a beautiful brown trout measuring 68 cm and weighing 3 kg.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reported that, as one would expect, redfin to 600 grams or so are still plentiful and responding to live minnow, scrubworms and soft plastics.
However, John also reported fishing nearby Lake Bullen Merri with Tim Beusmans, where – trolling lures that included the Daiwa Double Clutch and Tillins spotted dogs, both along the surface and down-rigged at some depth – caught chinook salmon to 2 kg.
Snobs Creek Fish Stocking Coordinator, Rhiannon Atkinson reminds all that the final stocking of chinook salmon into Lake Purrumbete will be today (18/10/22), at around 1.15 pm. And, some 800-1000 tiger trout are scheduled for release into lake Bullen Merri at the same time tomorrow.
Considering that dates and times may be subject to change, those interested in attending should contact Rhiannon on 0407 987 016 or by email at rhiannon.atkinson@vfa.vic.gov.au for confirmation
Kevin Wild with one of the carp captured from Lake Victoria.
Simon Werner tried his luck at Wurdiboluc Reservoir at the weekend, but only caught a modest rainbow trout.
So, with nothing else doing, he finished up at Lake Modewarre to find that, not only did it now hold a significant amount of water, but the volume of water feeding into it, guaranteed it would probably fill for the first time in a good many years.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that with the major bodies of water beyond full, club members had an outing to Lake Victoria, a smaller body of water close at hand.
A good move as it turned out for, not only did they catch a good many whopping carp, there were redfin and yellowbelly on offer as well, with Steven Eales – who was fishing with son Mason and daughters Lily 8 and Amelia 4 – catching the biggest yellowbelly at 55 cm.
Diary photo of the late Geoff Tainton and Ross Middleton with snapper they caught from the Grammar School Lagoon during the Easter break of 1965.
Vale Geoff Tainton 08/08/1946-12/10/2022
On September 20, I acknowledged the passing of Ross Middleton with whom I’d spent much time fishing as a teenager, mainly at the Grammar School Lagoon, and for snapper in particular.
In 1963, Ross introduced Geoff Tainton to the mix, and he too caught a good many snapper from the Lagoon, but sadly, Geoff passed away on Wednesday of last week, something that prompted the dusting off my fishing diaries from that era.
There were many mentions of Geoff, including one on 01/06/1963, when – after an exploratory trip in the dinghy to where Geoff had seen, from the sandspit, a disturbance at the surface from what he suggested might have been a large fish – we broke new ground.
After anchoring the dinghy in that area, although it proved to be quite shallow, Geoff caught four snapper, which – in those days prior to metrication – weighed a total of 46 pounds, while on that occasion, I didn’t get so much as a touch.